Homeowners find themselves doing home improvements in need of a new roof, or a new water heater, electrical etc with bids from contractors includes cost of permit etc….. Homeowner assumes all work is being done to code and permit protects them……..NOT so fast………this is what has been happening throughout the Bay Area with certain contractors….. Permit [...]
They say that real estate is all about location. But when it comes to investing, timing the market right doesn’t hurt either. And when you get both right, investing in real estate can feel downright easy. The 94608 zip code includes Emeryville and trendy Temescal, that special part of Oakland that feels more like Berkeley. [...]
If you enjoy safety, there isn’t a ton to like about East Oakland. Slammed with foreclosures, crime and general neglect, the housing downturn was hard on this downtrodden part of town. But price is a powerful force, and as values pushed lower, some intrepid investors took the plunge. Being a landlord in East Oakland takes [...]
Why should buyers consider FHA 203K loans? Because of this market. The competition is fierce with low inventory. Many homes left are in need of a repair…..This is where a 203K loan can leverage a buyer to get into a location or school system previously unaffordable. 203K FHA loans are rehab loans. There are two separate [...]
Wells Fargo is now peddling down payment assistance crack to potential FHA home buyers in Oakland, Fremont, Hayward, Concord, Antioch, Bay Point, Brentwood, Pittsburg and Richmond – areas that have been hardest-hit by foreclosures. Similar to the glory days of down payment assistance programs, borrowers could buy homes with zero money out-of-pocket. Back in 2008, the FHA [...]
Good news for landlords, bad news for renters. The Rent Bubble across the Bay Area continues to grow. From The San Francisco Chronicle: Apartment rents in the Bay Area’s three biggest cities continue to rise, with Oakland seeing a huge surge, probably fueled by renters priced out of San Francisco crossing the bay. “Oakland is the [...]
Yesterday, Burbed had a guest post from Greg Fielding on Bay Area Case-Shiller tiered data (it’s a reprint of his article from this site). This is my reply to it, which originally appeared on Burbed in a slightly different form with far more in-jokes than I’ll subject you to here. In case you haven’t been reading any [...]
